Only a few hours now until we begin a new year. I wonder what 2009 holds for me and for you. Of course, none of us really knows what lies ahead in a new year, but I find so much security in the fact that God does know and that we can trust Him completely. This time last year, I had absolutely no idea where I would be living at the end of 2008. As the year ends, I'm living in a new home, in a new country, and learning a new language. This time last year, none of us would have predicted this so-called "credit crunch" and the closing down of High Street stores that had been household names in the UK for decades! We can't predict where 2009 will take us either... but we can choose to trust the God who holds past, present and future in His hands. We've continued to spend most of the past week visiting my Dad in various hospitals, and we now know that New Year's Day will be spent in hospital too. In fact, medical staff told us yesterday that he will probably spend at least another four weeks in hospital, and possibly up to eight weeks. As I understand it, they want to keep him on intra-venous antibiotics long enough to make sure that no further infection springs up in the brain or the surrounding bone... and perhaps that means waiting until the scar has completely healed and closed up. He still has stitches at the moment. But we are thankful to the Lord for His faithfulness towards our family, and for the fact that my Dad is now once again making a good recovery from such major surgery.
As we enter a new year, I pray that you and your family will also experience the love, faithfulness, guidance and blessing of God in 2009.
